AZ Finds 100,000 Voters Lacking Citizenship Proof On Wrong List

In Arizona, voters need to provide documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in statewide elections. Those who do not provide proof are registered as “federal-only” voters, which allows them to cast a ballot only in federal elections. But the state says it discovered nearly 100,000 voters on the rolls who did not provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote but were nonetheless tagged as eligible to vote in both state and federal elections.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer flagged an “erroneous voter registration record” to Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs on Sept. 7. A green card holder who, as a noncitizen, is legally prohibited from voting, had ended up on the voter rolls as a full-ballot voter, according to VoteBeat.

The state ultimately found approximately 97,000 voters who are currently listed as full-ballot voters despite having not fulfilled the requirement to provide documentary proof of citizenship to vote in statewide elections. Fontes’ office claimed most of the voters are “Republican.”

Hobbs says her team “identified and fixed an administrative error that originated in 2004, and affects longtime residents who received a driver’s license before 1996” but that “out of an abundance of caution, [the secretary of state’s office and the motor vehicle division] will be implementing an independent audit to ensure that MVD systems are functioning as necessary to support voter registration.”

How Did These Voters Get on the Rolls?

In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law that required proof of citizenship to register to vote, ruling it conflicted with the 1993 National Voter Registration Act’s requirement that states “accept and use” the standardized federal voter registration form for federal elections. The form only requires an applicant to swear, “under penalty of perjury,” that he is a citizen.

The Supreme Court recently upheld a different Arizona law mandating individuals provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote via a state voter registration form.

Arizona residents have been required to provide proof of citizenship to get a driver’s license in the state since Oct. 1, 1996, while other individuals are issued a different type of license. Because of that, Hobbs’ office says would-be voters may use a “driver’s license issued after October 1, 1996” as “valid DPOC [documentary proof of citizenship].” The statewide voter registration database, AVID, “is programmed to query and pull driver’s license records … for voter registration processing.”

Hobbs’ office says that when the MVD issues a “duplicate license” to replace an existing license (often because it has been lost or damaged), the original issue date is replaced with the date on which the duplicate was issued. The AVID system was not programmed to alert counties that a replacement license sent after Oct. 1, 1996, may have been originally issued before Oct. 1, 1996, and therefore does not comply with documentary proof of citizenship requirements.

What Happens to the Voters?

While the state undertakes an investigation, Richer filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court on Tuesday asking the court to force Fontes to classify the roughly 97,000 voters as federal-only voters. This means those voters could vote in the upcoming election, but only for federal candidates. The voters would not be permitted to vote in statewide and local races.

Fontes is prepared to argue that the voters should remain as full-ballot voters, according to VoteBeat.

“We do not want to see this happen,” Fontes reportedly said about the possibility of the voters being kept out of statewide and local races.

Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona Chairwoman Merissa Hamilton tells The Federalist that “the easiest way for [the counties] to be able to resolve this issue is to send these 97,000 voters to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), let DHS know there was an error and ask them to expedite reviewing the list.”

Doing so, Hamilton argues, would comply with part of a recent lawsuit alleging Arizona’s 15 election recorders have “failed to take the actions required by law to ensure that foreign citizens are removed from their voter rolls.” The suit was brought by Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona and resident Yvonne Cahill. The plaintiffs are represented by America First Legal.

The suit follows letters sent to all 15 counties in July alleging the counties have not maintained accurate and up-to-date voter rolls. Richer in particular allegedly refused to undertake list maintenance procedures.

“If Maricopa County, for example, had just complied with the letter that we sent them months ago, they would already have the infrastructure in place to resolve this issue of the 97,000 voters immediately today,” Hamilton told The Federalist.

Richer’s office previously told The Federalist that the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office “prioritizes and prides itself on maintaining accurate, up-to-date voter rolls.”

But Hamilton contends that if the county discovered a voter listed as a “full-ballot voter but who is a green card holder and not a legal citizen,” then voter rolls were not being maintained properly.

“They can use the remedy in our lawsuit with America First Legal to validate these 97,000 voters, plus the nearly 50,000 existing federal-only voters,” Hamilton tells The Federalist. “It’s a choice by the recorders to disenfranchise voters. They have the tools to make sure only legal voters receive ballots.”

Hamilton says that there “should be a process for [voters] to be able to quickly be notified and provide their documentary proof of citizenship” so that they may vote in both the upcoming statewide and federal elections.

Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2